<figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111120/637216f39c7e80680e0ba9c1jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Credit: The walkley foundation</figcaption></figure>Across the world and the region, democracy is in retreat. The three pillars of a democratic state — an independent judiciary, the legislature and the executive, are all teetering. The media is supposed to be the fourth pillar to hold up the superstructure of democracy. But the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/creeping-control-over-the-press-in-nepal/">press is being suppressed</a>, or its dire economic straits make it vulnerable to pressure from the state, corporate interests and owners who do not value its public service role.Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, media companies were <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/in-locked-down-nepal-print-is-still-king/">in trouble</a>: readers were <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepalis-are-drifting-to-digital-media/">moving to the Internet</a>, advertisers followed, and revenue went into free fall. Google and Facebook ads took whatever was left.Nepal’s economy was starting to revive when the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/ukraine-crisis-hits-nepal-economy-hard/">Russian invasion of Ukraine</a> hiked the price of imported petroleum, eroding Nepal’s foreign exchange reserves and widening the balance of payments gap. The government banned imports of 10 ‘non-essential’ items. All this has had a knock-on effect on advertising, indirectly hitting the bottom line of media companies.At a time when countries need a free and independent media more than ever before <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/nepal-has-press-freedom-but-no-freedom-after-press/">to defend open society</a>, the press is in a financially fragile state. Nepal is still one of the freer countries in the region, but a weak press during an election year could mean that pluralism is trumped by populism. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/internet-in-everything/">Internet is everything</a>, EditorialNepal’s media has seen periods of total censorship, and times when it has been protected by a democratic leadership. After 2017 especially, journalists have been taking seriously their adversarial role with investigative reports, exposes and reportage, highlighting the plight of citizens at the margins. Nepal’s media industry, supported by private sector advertising, has become the amplifier of every sphere of development: health, education, business, science, culture and heritage, the arts and technology.With the speed of mobile data increasing and prices coming down, the consumption pattern for entertainment and information is being transformed. The publishing industry is no more a one-way street from newsrooms to doorsteps. It is now a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-death-of-print-is-exaggerated/">two-way interactive super-highway</a> of websites, apps and comment threads. <img width="576" height="944" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111120/637216f79c7e80680e0ba9c2jpeg.jpg" alt="">How is the press going to survive with an obsolete business model? What are some successful ways journalists have adapted to this change? How is the legacy media faring as it tries to straddle old and new? What is the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/internet-in-everything/">future for digital portals</a>? What of information overload, what will it mean for governance and democracy? How is Nepal’s online media going to ride the wave? How can media literacy help Nepal’s young digital natives?These questions will be debated at the Ncell Himal Media Mela 2022 on 7 May in Kathmandu. The one-day event is organised by Himalmedia to mark World Press Freedom Week and its own 25th anniversary.“Nepal's media does not have an industry event to address the existing challenges and new technologies. Himal Media Mela aims to fill that void, and we hope that media across Nepal will take collective ownership of the event,” says Amar Gurung, CEO of Himalmedia, adding that the event will be held annually.This unique one-day conference is by the media for the media and will have more than 200 senior editors, digital journalists, media educators as speakers and guests. Magsaysay Award winning journalist Ravish Kumar, group editor of India’s NDTV, will deliver the keynote, and the day will end with comic relief and some media bashing by comedian Manoj Gajurel. The proceedings will be uploaded on YouTube.Rabin Giri, editor of Himal monthly says: “This event is important to keep Nepal open and to exercise our right to freedom of expression. It will also serve as a platform to connect local-level journalism with international practice, as well as a knowledge-sharing platform.”Connectivity in the Age of Disinformation Ravish Kumar, group editor of NDTV India will be introduced by Chandra Kishore, Chair of the Centre for Investigative Journalism-Nepal, and deliver a keynote on the state of media in South Asia.   Later in the day, Kumar will be in conversation with Kanak Mani Dixit in the afternoon and delve into the challenges to free speech. A book signing of Ravish Kumar's The Free Voice: On Democracy, Culture and the Nation in English and its Nepali translation will happen during tea break. <img width="518" height="694" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111120/637216fa9c7e80680e0ba9c3jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="618" height="675" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111120/637216fc9c7e80680e0ba9c4jpeg.jpg" alt="">Election, Fake News and Media LiteracyPanelists: Ramkrishna Regmi, Sama Thapa, Umesh Shrestha Moderator: Rajneesh BhandariWith the local elections just a week away, speakers will discuss how fake news and disinformation can influence poll results, as well as raise the need for media literacy to prevent social media abuse. Ethical and Responsible JournalismPanelists: Yubaraj Ghimire, Sona Khatik, Prateek Pradhan Moderator: Jivan ChettriEditors and reporters from the print, online and broadcast medium will recall the guidelines of journalism that are vital for its credibility. What are the new responsibilities and roles of journalism in the age of unfiltered social media?   <img width="622" height="680" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111120/637216ff9c7e80680e0ba9c5jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="622" height="673" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111120/637217029c7e80680e0ba9c6jpeg.jpg" alt="">Tomorrow's  Journalism Panelists: Sahina Shrestha, Madhu Acharya, Arun Karki Moderator: Ayusha Chalise Back in the day, print publications competed with each other for readership. Then they competed with tv. Now they all compete against Facebook and TikTok for eyeballs and revenue. Media practitioners need new tools to survive in this brave new mediascape. The Political Economy of MediaPanelists: Ameet Dhakal, Aarti Chataut, Sudheer Sharma Moderator: Kunda DixitAs elsewhere, Nepal's media also grapples with the digital transition. What do Nepal's most prominent editors think about their role? The political economy of media involves more than content providers and readers, but also governments, corporates, regulators, ... and algorithms.  <img width="622" height="678" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111120/637217059c7e80680e0ba9c7jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="589" height="463" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111120/637217089c7e80680e0ba9c8jpeg.jpg" alt="">Comic Reliefby Manoj GajurelSo that media professionals do not take themselves too seriously, Nepal's most known stand-up comedian and impersonator Manoj Gajurel pokes some fun at journalists.

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Himal Media Mela 2022

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161144/636d1d1b9c7e80680e0af394jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="720" height="523"/>R amesh Kumar Neupane of Himal Khabarpatrika, a sister publication of Nepali Times has been awarded by the Society of Economic Journalists Nepal (SEJON) for his investigation into high-level insider trading of Sarbottam Cement IPO shares. Following the expose, the CIAA launched a probe into Nepal Securities Board chair Bhishma Raj Dhungana, after which he was suspended. Nepse CEO Chandra Singh Saud and board member Chandra Dhakal also resigned from their posts for their alleged involvement.

Himal journalist awarded

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161128/636d193e9c7e80680e0ac80cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/>Now that Nepal has been ranked 76th out of 116 countries in the UN’s World Hunger Index, and we seem to be more fed-up than India and Pakistan (yay!)  this is a long-overdue recognition of the rapid strides this country has taken to ensure junk food for all by 2025.That is the year when Nepal attains Middle Kingdom Status, and the average person's consumption of cracker curls, chips, cookies, and chau-chau will propel the Nepalis’ economic growth, if not girth.The other indicator that Nepal’s economy has taken off like a rocket is the growth of the advertising industry. Commercial Break: this week’s Backside Column has been made possible because of generous support from Crackpot Cheeseballs (“Do you have the balls?”) and with the sponsorship of Virgin Gin (“Forget the tonic!”). At this juncture the Ass would like to pay tribute to the junk food industry without whose valuable support we journalists would not be able to peddle this junk. If the fast snack folks did not fill these pages with ads, we would not be able to ram our opinions down your throats.Nepal’s fast-moving consumer products are now moving so fast that there is no time to loaf around. (This last sentence was sponsored by Sagarmatha Loaf: ‘You Got the Dough? We Got the Bread.’) And that is why this week’s Backside column gives a whole new meaning to the notion of 'native advertising' by listing the hottest food items with zero nutritional value (yum!) that are on supermarket shelves:<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161128/636d19429c7e80680e0ac80djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="104" height="227">E-coli Bottled Water‘Bottled at source from the Bagmati at Teku and fortified with micro-organic nutrients. Quench your thirst, and simultaneously lose weight from loose motion.’Housewife Cooking Oil‘The cooking oil that all Nepali housewives swear by. (Actual housewife quote: “@#$%&amp;*?!” Move from the fire into the frying pan with Housewife. Good for the Heart, Bad forEverything Else.’<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161128/636d19449c7e80680e0ac80ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="227" height="227"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161128/636d19469c7e80680e0ac80fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="227" height="227">Poodle Instant Noodle ‘No, Nepal has definitely not run out of instant noodle brands. Here comes Poodle Noodle, which despite its name has nothing to do with a pooch (it just rhymes), but is the country’s first noodle with permitted colours and flavours of uncastrated goats.’Computer Chips‘Enjoy Nepal’s first onion-and-cheese flavoured semiconductor chips prepared especially for computer programmers, medical transcription inputters, back office staff, and call centre workers to munch during their midnight snack break.’<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161128/636d194a9c7e80680e0ac810jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="216" height="227"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161128/636d194e9c7e80680e0ac811jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="108" height="227">Sloth Beer ‘Drink all you can to be the lucky winner of a weekend stay for two at Sauraha, and help in the conservation of Nepal's laziest endangered bears.’Burger BunsGet a pair of these badass buns with compliments of:<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161128/636d19519c7e80680e0ac812jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="227" height="208">Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/we-are-what-we-eat/">We are what we eat</a>, Aruna Uprety

Ass s

Brand new products

While at home with nothing to do, many of you have been worrying obsessively about the state of the country. Don’t. We are in the very capable hands of the Great Helmsperson who reminds us constantly that a revolution is not a tea party, the nation is taking a great leap forward to let a hundred flowers bloom because a 1,000 mile journey begins with the first step, and that political power comes out of the barrel of whiskey.Nowhere else in the world would you have such a cumulative wealth of experience among national leaders. The PM has just become PM for the third time. And there are five ex-PM MPs all lining up to replace him, and one of them has been PM five times already. Imagine their total IQ if we added up all that wealth of brainpower.And by now, the party whips have flogged the living daylights out of all MPs. In addition, every one of them has stabbed everyone else in the back, and vice-versa. There is no one remaining to back-stab anymore, so now they are stabbing each other in the front. In the wild, there is a parliament of owls, but here in Nepal we are one step ahead — we have owls in parliament.PM Oli’s refusal to swear his allegiance to God almighty while taking his oath of office proves that his Unfed Marxist-Leninist-Atheist party believes that religion is the opium of the asses. He must have been smoking something else during the swearing in by Madamn President.The ministers sowing their wild oaths was good entertainment beamed live on Nepal TV to distract us from the fact that the country is going to hell in a handbasket. Would have been even better if all that swearing included the name of a famous Japanese chain that cannot be uttered here since there may be minors within earshot.It is really encouraging, though, that the re-incarnated Oli administration hit the ground running and got down to brass tacks by calling an emergency Cabinet meeting to address the biggest and most urgent challenge the country has faced in its recent history — the appointment of new ambassadors.Anyhoo, my back-of-the-envelope calculation shows that by not having badass ambassadors for the past 14 months, Nepal’s national exchequer saved $25.8 million. This is no mean feat. Now, all that money can be spent on erecting the Republic Monument and Viewtower in Thankot.Besides monetary savings, not having Ambassador Extraordinaries and Plenipotentiaries for so long also meant that Nepal’s envoys did not make political gaffes, and indulge in other extra-curricular activities. However, we do not envy the PM having to reward hangers-on and cronies, appease coalition factions, and balance demands of the political farties.There are more ambassadorial aspirants than there are nation states and territories in the world, so one way to fit everyone is to appoint ambassadors to all the world’s 195 countries. If that is not enough, the PMO can appoint one ambassador each to Trinidad and Tobago.Luckily, with space exploration, Nepal need not be confined to Earth to open new embassies. We can designate Chargé d’affaires ad Interim to the Moon, Mars, Venus and some of the larger rocks in the Asteroid Belt.And if even those heavenly bodies are still not enough, we may have to venture further afield to open new embassies outside the solar system. That way we can blast them all into space, and have the country to ourselves.

The Ass

Ass as Ambassador

Once in a while, amidst all this gloom and doom, we detect a silver lining, a light at the end of the tunnel, a ray of moonshine. I am, of course, referring to the heartening piece of news this week that Nepal is now self-sufficient in chicken and eggs.Although we should not be counting our chicken before they hatch, this is a phenomenal piece of good news. It means we will finally be putting to rest an answer to the scientific riddle that has bedevilled mankind since the dawn of human history: which came first, the chicken or the egg?We have it on good authority that it was neither. What came first was the rooster that impregnated the hen. I know, many of you are itching to ask, so where did the rooster come from? Was he also not from an egg born? You are right. Hadn’t thought of it, let me make a mental note of that, and get back to you.But I digress from the main point on the agenda this week, which is that with self-sufficiency in poultry products, it is clear that Nepal’s Human Asset Index is now on an upward trajectory, and the country is well on its way to graduate to Middle Kingdom Status.Unbeknownst to most of us, Nepal had already achieved self-sufficiency in various commodities that are of strategic importance. But, being a modest nation of humble means that does not like to toot its own trumpet unnecessarily, we did not make a big song and dance about it before. However, now in strictest confidence, we can reveal to you this highly classified list of items in which Nepal is self-reliant:<ul> 	<li>Instant Noodles. Nepal now makes enough chow-chow to feed the country’s population many times over.</li> 	<li>Uranium. The discovery of a sackful of U-238 in Boudha last month is proof that the country does not have to rely anymore on imports of fissile material.</li> 	<li>Iron Rods. The number of commercials of TMT bars on TV these days, must mean that Nepal has now formally and definitively entered the Iron Age.</li> 	<li>Gold Biscuits. Till not long ago, Nepal had to import all its gold from abroad countries. We are glad to announce that henceforth Nepal does not import any gold, we just smuggle it in.</li> 	<li>Alcohol. The Nepal government’s concerted efforts to promote new beer and liquor brands has paid off in the long run. It can be officially announced that we are now not just self-sufficient in alcoholic beverages, but are actually exporting it across the porous border to India to reduce our balance of payments deficit. Which is why the present system of retail sales of Old Smuggler whiskey is too cumbersome, and should be upgraded. Since fuel tankers and LPG Bullets are returning empty to India, how about NOC barter booze for petroleum in a daru-for-diesel deal? And if this takes off, we can extend the India-Nepal Petroleum Pipeline to Chitwan so that petrol is pumped up to Nepal in the daytime, and we send down Barahsinghe Premium beer by night in the other direction to Bihar.</li> 	<li>I bet many of you do not know that the Ministry of Animal Husbandry and Midwifery has proudly declared that Nepal is now self-sufficient in bovine semen. This means Nepal’s street oxen have no function anymore and can be retired.</li> 	<li>The Minister for Forest and Environment has announced that Nepal is now self-reliant in carbon monoxide. However, he said the oxygen concentration in the atmosphere was at dangerously high levels due to the wildfires in the country, and he was working to reduce it</li></ul>Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/happy-go-lucky-nepal/">Happy-go-lucky Nepal</a>, Ass

A self-reliant Nepal

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111136/636cd44c9c7e80680e08f9b6jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="545" height="430"/>All this knee-jerk criticism of Primetime Minister K P Oli for offering prayers at Pashupati misses the whole point about his interpretation of dialectic materialism, the doctrine with which Marx (Karl, not Groucho) postulates a steady revolutionary progression from the primary stage of socialism, through the dictatorship of the proletariat, then on to full-blown Communism, and finally breaking the cycle of birth and rebirth through the attainment of Nirvana.Latin American lefties must be red with jealousy that comrades in Nepal have given ‘Liberation Theology’ an entirely new meaning by cleverly combining Leninism, Stalinism, Maoism, Hoxhaism and Hinduism. In fact, unbeknownst to most of us, it seems the entire Central Committee of the Nepal Communist Party has been red on the outside and saffron on the inside all along.Meanwhile in Heaven, The Almighty is in the horns of a dilemma. Which faction of the NCP should He side with: Oli, or Prachanda-Nepal? Which one will make Him party chair?Having abolished the monarchy and banished the Shah god-kings for good, it is logical for Prime Minister K P Holy, as protector of the realm, to also regard himself now as an omnipotent incarnation of Comrade Vishnu.On the other hand, PKD has had a head start with a large collection of bronze Buddhas in his Khumaltar living room. He likes to draw attention to the similarities that he bears with Siddhartha Gautam and Mahatma Gandhi. He is also known, on occasion, to worship water buffaloes on the holy banks of the Kosi in Chhatara.If this carries on, it may just be a question of time before Comrade Awe-inspiring  starts to also sacrifice said buffaloes, as well as unastrated black goats to appease the gods. For someone who conducted human sacrifices in the past, that shouldn’t be too much of a leap.Chairman MKN, for his part, hosted a large Moonie gathering in 2018 at Soaltee during which he partook of sacramental wine from none other than Hak Ja Han with Unified Church comrades in attendance. Nepal (the country, not the ex-PM) has been inducting new divine members to its celestial Politburo, in addition to the 33 million we already have.Not to be outdone, x-Speaker Christian Bahadur Mahara had himself blessed by members of the Evangelical Gospel Assembly Church so he could purge himself of his sins, and perform a Second Coming.Communists are atheists and are not supposed to believe in God, but there is nothing stopping an atheist from being God himself. But if they really want to perform miracles by turning Nepal into Singapore in the next two years as they ay they will, they will need to fall back on the opiate of the asses.As devout disciples of Lord Mao, our comrades used to be monotheists. But since they follow Communist beliefs so religiously, it behooves them to have all bases covered.Luckily, many NCP commissars are already named after gods:Ishwar PokhrelVishnu PoudelVishnu RimalBidya Devi BhandariBum Dev GautamNarayan Kazi ShresthaShankar PoudelKrishna B MaharaRam B ThapaDev GurungGauri Shankar Chaudary

Holy guacamole

Statutory Government Health Warning: The following segment contains material that some readers may find disturbing. Viewer discretion is advised. Management is not responsible for untoward consequences.All right. If you insist on reading this despite that warning, The Ass can’t stop you. It’s still a free country.I have heard through the grapevine that many of you cannot wait for this year to be over, and for things to return to a normalitarian state. Well, guess what folks, sorry to break this to you as you crack open a bottle of bubbly at midnight, but 2021 is going to be even crappier than 2020.In fact, is it such a good idea to embark on a brand new year at this juncture in time? Do we actually want to go through another 365 days of this? At least during the year gone by, we were getting used to being miserable. In the new year we will have to get used to being miserable all over again. Can't we just postpone 2021?Instead of looking ahead at an unpredictable new year, therefore, let us recall fondly the certitudes of 2020 and count our many blessings in an anus horibilis:<ol> 	<li>As the rest of the world struggles with the second and third wave, here in Nepal we have already attained herd impunity. None of our past, present and future rulers will ever have to answer for their misdemeanours.</li> 	<li>Nepal’s Olitics (the ‘P’ is silent) did not throw up any nasty surprises in 2020. It was all very predictable. In a nutshell, Nepal’s Communists could not get along and split the party, ensuring stability and prosperity for us all.</li> 	<li>The government thankfully spared us the shock of seeing the Godavari Road widened and paved in 2020. Imagine what an upsetting jolt that would have been.</li> 	<li>Thank god Melamchi was not completed by Dasain as promised. How would we as a nation ever get over a bombshell like that?</li> 	<li>What a shock it was to see that Kathmandu Airport was actually upgraded during the pandemic. But thanks to the serpentine queues and smelly loos, we can thankfully still feel perfectly at home there.</li> 	<li>Domestic tourism got a whole new meaning in 2020 with Buddha Air’s promo stopover in Pokhara for Janakpur-bound passengers.</li> 	<li>And for those who are nostalgic for the Dark Ages, the thoughtful folks at Nepal Electricity Authoritarians (NEA) brought back power cuts.</li> 	<li>I know, there are many defeatist Nepalis who always see the glass as half-empty no matter what. This is no time for pessimism, the glass is actually completely empty. We should all head out for a refill.</li> 	<li>We should warn our giant neighbours to the North and South not to bother trying to destabilise Nepal in 2021. We are already doing that to ourselves.</li> 	<li>Forget the coronavirus vaccine, what we need more urgently is a vaccine against corruption to inoculate the entire Oligarchy.</li> 	<li>The bottom line, FYI, is that the only way to survive 2021 is WTF to LMFAO. G2G. TTYL.</li></ol>More from the Ass <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/nt/opinion/backside/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>.

Anus horibilis

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111120/636cd0ed9c7e80680e08f883jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="1500"/><figcaption>Photo: MONIKA DEUPALA</figcaption></figure>The Year of Covid hit economies hard, and none more so than the <a href="http://v" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">media business which depends mainly on advertising</a>. With sales down and many businesses going belly-up, the media’s main source of revenue dried up as well.When the lockdown went into effect on 24 March, most legacy media in Nepal stopped their print editions. Nepali Times and Himal Khabarpatrika were one of the first to stop printing in early March, and went fully digital. National broadsheets like Nagarik, Kantipur, Kathmandu Post and The Himalayan Times also halted hardcopies, and terminated their other magazines.Among the broadsheets, only Naya Patrika and Annapurna Post continued to print much slimmer versions of their papers, mainly surviving on government notices.However, within ten days Nepal’s largest-circulation newspaper Kantipur resumed printing after it found out that it was losing market share. “We panicked prematurely, and pausing print production was a near-fatal decision,” admits Mahesh Swar, Assistant General Manager at Kantipur Media Group. “We did lose some confidence of our readers, but we have won most of it back. Resuming print was the best decision we made.”Although it was a question of visibility in the market and a presence in the corridors of power in Singha Darbar, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/media-muzzle/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">media</a> as a business has struggled to survive in the past ten months as Nepal’s economy flatlined during the March-July lockdown. The prognosis for 2021 is looking only slightly better.A handful of digital-only portals with lower overheads rode out the crisis, but even they had to cut costs as new sites diluted online readership. Print media found it difficult to get existing companies to switch advertising to their online editions. While page views of their digital editions hit the roof, revenue crashed.Back in April, Shiva Gaunle of the Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ) told this paper that <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/in-locked-down-nepal-print-is-still-king/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the resumption of hardcopy</a> was prompted by competition, and the fear of losing a paper’s footprint.“It is true digital media has even more reach during the lockdown, but the publishers seem to have decided that not having a printed newspaper has reduced their clout,” Gaunle says. “In that respect, print is still king.”A <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/mobile-nepal-is-hooked-on-youtube/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">survey earlier this year</a> by Sharecast Initiative showed that only 7% of a nationwide sample regularly read print media, while the proportion of people who got their information from online media had grown, but only to 16% by October.“It has been a challenging year for publishers, but they should keep in mind that the readership has not decreased. It's just that the news sources have shifted to the digital platform,” says Madhu Acharya of Sharecast. He adds that the real reason there are not more readers of print is because publishers have not invested in efficient nationwide distribution. “Most respondents in our survey said they would read newspapers if they could buy them easily.”<a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/journalism-is-not-a-crime/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Journalist Namrata Sharma</a> believes that older people prefer a physical newspaper because they are in the habit of reading them with their morning cup of tea. “Newspapers are just much easier to read, the letters and pictures are bigger and they do not have to squint into phones,” she says.https://www.youtube.com/watch?fbclid=IwAR0YfYL0plBNnqDQvITBvW-S4pcOYeQcS2cHoedcDtVArHADUyro3G8y4Tk&amp;v=r6UdpJ-UC_Y&amp;feature=youtu.beThe Sharecast survey shows that the readership of news portals is not much higher, and most people with smartphones use the internet <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/nepals-new-digital-landscape/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">for entertainment, to connect to family and friends and to watch or share video content</a>. Some 80% of respondents in the survey are on Facebook, with the total number of Nepalis with the app at nearly 9 million. YouTube and TikTok are spreading rapidly as well. Three years ago, only 1% used YouTube, that has grown to 57% in 2019.Acharya says print readership can grow if newspapers and magazines are more readily available to subscribers and in news-stands because of greater literacy levels. Print’s advantage is its shelf-life, and the size of images, which has an edge over a mobile phone screen.“Print newspapers are not going to die because it is something physical that stays with you, there are things you can do with design and use of space on the page that is much more powerful than looking at a small screen,” says Amar Gurung, CEO at Himalmedia, which is resuming the print edition of Nepali Times every Friday from 1 January.Even ad agencies feel that print is a more credible source of information for the public, but they say that <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/lockdown-crackdown/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">legacy media</a> has to re-invent itself to be more appealing to advertisers and readers."Print publications have a more loyal readership, and they perceive them as more credible than online," says Ujaya Shakya of Outreach Nepal, and author of Brandsutra.He adds that print readers do not usually multitask when they read a magazine or newspaper, making them more receptive to ads in those publications.However, Shakya says the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepalis-are-drifting-to-digital-media/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">penetration of digital media is growing</a> faster, and it will gain momentum when it is integrated with print, tv or radio."The biggest challenge for marketers now is the attention span of the digital audience," Shakya adds. "How many times will they click on the banner ad while browsing social media or a site? That is the key question."The print media as it existed 10 years ago is dead. But the content and role of newspapers have changed. Ironically, what appears to have saved print is the proliferation of digital portals, where both news and advertisement tend to be drowned out by the cacophony. To stand out from the crowd, advertisers now prefer a printed paper page.“Print media still helps to create certain level of credibility in communications. With excess noise in digital, and its unregulated content, many people are not sure how much they can trust it. Print provides trust,” says Punam Singh of the Golchha Group which is the distributor of Bajaj motorcycles.It may be a question of time before print is trending again, just as people get tired of digital sound and vinyl record shops are becoming fashionable. Physical newspapers are tactile, their influence is less ephemeral than digital, much like e-books never really took off as people preferred to turn physical pages. The sale of printed books worldwide doubled last year.“A newspaper in your hand is much more real than digital words on a monitor. There is more trust and credibility in a physical paper in this age of fake news,” says Amar Gurung. “Readers of print also tend to read longer articles and are less distracted, whereas online readers prefer shorter items or videos.”This may be the reason why despite the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/the-message-is-the-medium/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">growth of digital readers</a>, many advertisers in Nepal still prefer ads in print. Indeed, across the world there is a return to print advertising by companies who are turned off by the over-saturation of online, and people disabling ads because they feel pursued by algorithms.“Traditional media's major source of revenue has been ads. But now, we have to think out of the box to generate revenues from other sources as well,” says Gurung.To be sure, there are caveats to print. The content and production values have to be of extremely high quality, there has to be visibility and efficient distribution that makes the media brand stand out. In the end it will be the advertisers who have the last word.Says Prasun Timilsina of Karyala Advertising Inc., “For advertisers, it mostly depends on the audience. While products for youth are usually on digital media, it still makes sense to advertise in newspapers because they are tactile and there is greater retention of content that people see in print. A newspaper is also shared by the entire family, as opposed to digital media which is individual.”

The death of print is exaggerated

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141136/636bad589c7e80680e077f8bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><figcaption>Nepali Times issue #1</figcaption></figure>The <a href="http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/nepalitimes/pdf/Nepali_Times_001.pdf">#1 print edition</a> of Nepali Times of <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/issue/1">19-25 July 2000</a> shows that even though much has changed in Nepal in the past two decades, a lot has remained the same. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. Reports and op-eds published in that very first hardcopy issue are as relevant today as they were then. Most of the protagonists are the same.The <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=10979#.XxAi8KEza70">front page analysis</a> of the first edition looked at the impending state visit to India by Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala. Among the contentious issues he was going to take up with Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee: the Kalapani territory occupied by India. The dispute flared again this year, and sank bilateral ties to a new low.Then, as now, the Indian media had been primed before Koirala’s visit with official leaks about alleged infiltration by Pakistani agents to ‘turn the Tarai into Taliban territory’. The allegations were included in an Indian intelligence report ‘Nepal Gameplan’, and our report said that Koirala’s challenge would be to use his personal chemistry with Vajpayee to convince him that Nepal would not allow any extraneous threats to India from its territory.Both Koirala and Vajpayee are long gone, but India-Nepal relations are still strained —this time over suspicions of growing Chinese influence. The same issue of Nepali Times had an <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=10983#.XxAjfqEza70">interview with UML General Secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal</a> on page 3 in which the opposition leader said: “What is surprising is that Koirala is the same person who said he would not visit India until Indian troops are withdrawn from Kalapani, and he is rushing there.”<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=10980#.XxAjxaEza70">The Editorial</a> of the first print edition of Nepali Times laid out what would be the new paper’s mission statement: ‘A newspaper does more than hold a mirror to society. It becomes a mirror itself. There is a belief that literature is generally not read, and journalism is often unreadable. This newspaper will seek to be informal, lively, clear and direct.’In his column <a href="http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/nepalitimes/pdf/Nepali_Times_001.pdf">‘State of the State’, C K Lal</a> lamented the cynicism in Nepali society: ‘Despair hangs as thick as diesel exhaust in the Kathmandu air. Nepal’s nabobs of negativism hold forth in their nay-saying nooks. Cynicism is at least a reflection of exaggerated self-worth. Despair is much worse, it is a state of having lost all hope.’ Locked down for four months, Nepalis are once more drifting from cynicism to despair.The first issue also included <a href="mes.com/news.php?id=10990#.XxAk86Eza70">an investigation</a> into a scandal at the Kathmandu office of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) in which an expat official was secretly sacked for embezzlement. Reporter <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=10992#.XxAlC6Eza70">Hemlata Rai</a> wrote about how grassroots democracy was beginning to deliver health, education and other services.Another <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=11001#.XxAlLqEza70">intriguing story</a> was about reports that underground Maoist leader Prachanda had visited UK on an Indian passport to attend a meeting of the Revolutionary International Movement (RIM). Water resources expert <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=11082#.XxAlSKEza70">Dipak Gyawali</a> argued in a commentary that it made more sense for private power producers in Nepal to design projects to sell electricity for domestic value-added use than exporting it to India.COVID-19 is the main global health issue today, but 20 years ago it was HIV/AIDS, and the paper carried a report on anti-retrovirals not being affordable to people in poor countries.<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=11090#.XxAmmqEza70">Manjushree Thapa</a> started her column Nepaliterature in which she profiled writers in the Nepali language with translated excerpts of their work. The July 2000 issue had these lines from Bimal Nibha:Comrade Baburam Bhattarai is busy leading the People’s WarI, dragging along my broken slippersAm wondering —as are many othersI’m an ordinary person who writes the news who writes poemsWho drinks tea and rushes offA worker who delights and weepsWith ardor and effort (nothing exceptional about me)Am I not also engaged in a people’s war, Comrade?Nepali Times also got rights to serialise chapters from <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=11089#.XxAlmqEza70">Desmond Doig’s</a> book In the Kingdom of the Gods, and the first installment carried his description of Jang Bahadur’s Mughal-style Kal Mochan temple, which a western visitor once said was ‘too ugly to describe’.The <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=11099#.XxAmBKEza70">Funny Side Up</a> satire column became a fixture on the back page with the first one on legalising corruption. Taxing bribes and slapping 13% VAT on baksheesh, it was suggested, would be a good way to raise government revenue.From this week, the ‘10 Year Ago’ column in Nepali Times will be ‘20 Years Ago’. It will look at Nepal from two decades ago, and how the country was getting mired deeper in conflict, political disarray was eroding democratic gains, tourism was being affected by the uncertainty.The COVID-19 lockdown is a fitting time for a retrospective – when the media itself is facing a crisis of survival. The media in Nepal has historically been threatened by the extreme right and the extreme left. It had survived the economic crises during the earthquake and Blockade. Legacy media was trying to cope with the digital transition. But never  has it had to face such an existential crisis.  There are serious implications for journalism as well as for an open society.As the past two decades show, journalism is indeed history in a hurry. And those who do not learn from it are doomed to repeat it.The content of the past 20 years of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-grapples-with-bringing-workers-home/">Nepali Times</a> is available in a searchable archive. The ePaper can also be accessed by issue through the <a href="http://www.digitalhimalaya.com/collections/journals/nepalitimes/">Digital Himalaya</a> site.

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The death of print is exaggerated

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